This article will address unit designation and accuracy in Conflict Games' new release, Yalu, which depicts the Chinese counter offensive in Korea from late November 1950 through April of 1951. It is thus broken down into four parts: U.S. forces, other U.N. forces, Chinese forces, and Korean forces.

U.S. Forces

Basically, Yalu does a fine job of representing a very accurate Order of Battle of the U.S. Army and Marines engaged in Korea at this time. However, some minor problems are noted. A separate Regimental Combat Team, the 5th from Okinawa was deleted. Yalu fans need not despair since Conflict Games included an extra U.S. infantry counter (the one with no numerical factors). The 5th RCT should have a factor of 3-5 and should be placed on hex 0318. The Eighth Army also had available six airborne ranger companies during this time frame (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th) and during the parachute assault of Munsan-ni on 23 March 1951 the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team was reinforced by two Ranger companies. It seems appropriate then that the U.S. Player should also receive at least one "composite" Ranger battalion (1-6) which can be utilized in an airborne capacity.

The 1st Cavalry Division is also understrength by one regiment, the 8th. It should be upgraded by altering its combat factor from 7 to 10, and completing the blank cavalry regimental counter by adding its movement factor (6) and designation (8).

For historical interest for those wishing to fill in sub-unit designation on their other Yalu counters, I have prepared the table 1.

Table 1: The U.S. Army in Korea
Division	Regiments	Battalions
1 Marine	1,5,7	I - III in each Regiment
1 Cavalry	5,7,8	I - III in each Cav. Regiment
2 Infantry	9,23,38	I - III; note III/9 Negro battalion
3 Infantry	7,15,65	I - III; note III/15 Negro battalion, 65th Puerto Rican regiment
7 Infantry	17,31,32	I - III
24 Infantry	19, 21, 29*	I - III
25 Infantry	24,27,35	I - III; note 24th Negro regiment
-	5	Independent, from Okinawa
-	187 Abn.	Independent, from Japan
*the 24th Division's organic 34th regiment was withdrawn during this time an replaced by the 29th out of Okinawa.

Many may be interested to find that this was the last Army campaign in which units were segregated. The official view of Negro unit performance is stated in Appleman's The U.S. Army in the Korean War, in which the 24th Regiment's combat record is particularly hard hit (two battalions evaporating rather than fight). A vigorous dissent can be found by reading Davis, The American Negro Reference Book.

In sum, a middle approach has been taken by Dalflume in The Desegregation of the U.S. Armed Forces where he asserts, "Negro units suffered from the same handicaps as in the past a concentration of poorly educated personnel, low morale, and a tendency for commanders to blame their unit's failure on race. The available evidence suggests the 24th Infantry Regiment's performance was a mixture of success and failure." However, acute personnel shortages spurred the elimination of separate Negro units; on 1 August 1951 the 24th was disbanded and by the end of the year all Negro units stationed in Korea had been integrated.

Another ethnic formation was the 65th Infantry Regiment which was raised from Puerto Rican National Guardsmen and rushed to flesh out the 3rd Division despite Army policy at the war's outbreak to restrict the employment of Puerto Rican units to the Caribbean. This outfit was hastily composed, reaching Korea in September of 1950 with all enlisted being Puerto Ricans and 64 of the 206 officers also Puerto Rican. It quickly became a hodge-podge unit containing, according to Appleman, "white Puerto Ricans, Virgin Island Negros, white U.S., a tank company of U.S. Negros, Americans of Japanese descent, and South Koreans."

The 3rd Infantry Division was severely understrength and sent to Korea as an emergency measure, finally closing in country in mid-September. According to Ridgeway, "Its bones fleshed out to some extent by the inclusion of the 65th Infantry Regiment from Puerto Rico plus a battalion from the 33rd Infantry Regiment then in Panama." It contained squads in combat normally composed of two American enlisted men and eight Koreans, since it was bolstered by large numbers of Korean KATUSA soldiers.

In closing this section on U.S. units it should be noted that the following tank battalions were serving in Korea during this campaign (with tank type): 6th (M46 Patton), 64th (unknown), 70th, 72nd, 73rd, and the 89th (the last four equally divided between M26 Pershings and M4A3 Shermans) Most were in direct support of the infantry divisions and can easily account for the extra factor that the divisions have when combined.

Other U.N. Forces

Though Conflict Games does not render any breakdowns for other U.N. forces, it might be appropriate to at least mention the Commonwealth brigades. The Canadian brigade was basically formed from the three battalions of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. The composition of the two British brigades are given in Table 2.

Table 2 - British Forces in Korea

27th Infantry Brigade
1st Bn., Middlesex Regiment
1st Bn., Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders

29th Infantry Brigade

1st Bn., Royal Northumberland Fusiliers
1st Bn., Gloucester Regiment
1st Bn., Royal Ulster Rifles

The United Kingdom also sent one armored regiment, the 8th King's Royal Hussars, which again would account for the added strength total of the two brigades (8 instead of 5).

Chinese Forces

The exact number of divisions that the Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) fielded during this time will be constantly debated, but Conflict Games presents a very good Order of Battle. So the purpose of this section will be merely to list the divisions in each of the armies given in the game. The 20th, 26th, and 27th Armies were reinforced by the breaking up of the Chinese 30th Army, but this author was unable to locate the identity or even the certainty of the extra divisions appearing in the 12th or 15th Armies. I have listed the 139th and 140th divisions merely because they were later identified on the front. Table 3 lists the composition of the Chinese Armies in action.

Table 3 - Composition of the PVA

Armies Divisions

50th Army 148th, 149th, 150th
66th Army 196th, 197th, 198th
39th Army 115th, 116th, 117th
40th Army 118th, 119th, 120th
38th Army 112th, 113th, 114th
42nd Army 124th, 125th, 126th
55th Army 163rd, 164th, 165th
56th Army 166th, 167th, 168th
12th Army 31st, 34th, 35th, 139th
15th Army 29th, 44th, 45th, 140th
20th Army 58th, 59th, 60th, 89th
27th Army 79th, 80th, 81st, 90th
26th Army 76th, 77th, 78th, 88th
60th Army 179th, 180th, 181st, 178th

Korean Forces

Since Conflict Games has accurately identified the units of the Immun Gun, it only remains to give the sub-unit designations of the Republic of Korea divisions. Here two points should be mentioned. First, the Korean Marine Division only existed as the "Korean Marine Corps" (not 1) and was a regiment containing 5 battalions.

Since the formation was elite in comparison to the ROK Army, however, it still justifies its numerical combat factor. Secondly, one of the "Capital's" regiments was the "Cavalry" regiment, organized as a "flying column" and should as a result have a movement of six, not five. Only the regimental designations for the ROK divisions appearing through December 1950 are given, since this author was unable to locate reliable data on the 10th through 14th divisions.

These are not the divisional compositions which existed at the beginning of the war, since all the divisions below had in effect already been re-organized once and regiments re-raised and switched. Table 4, as far as it goes, does reflect the regimental status of ROK divisions during the Yalu time span.

Table 4 - Composition of the ROK Army

Divisions and Regiments

Marine "Division" (KMC) none, only 5 battalions (Regiment)
Capitol Division 1st, 18th, Cavalry
1st Infantry Division 11th, 12th, 15th
2nd Infantry Division 17th, 31st, 32nd
3rd Infantry Division 22nd, 23rd, 26th
5th Infantry Division 27th, 35th, 36th
6th Infantry Division 2nd, 7th, 19th
7th Infantry Division 3rd, 5th, 8th
8th Infantry Division 10th, 16th, 21st
9th Infantry Division 28th, 29th, 30th

Conclusion

In conclusion, Conflict Games rendered an almost perfect Order of Battle and fortunately included some extra U.S. counters which are perfect for the needed retouching mentioned in the first section of this article. R is hoped that this article proves useful to OB buffs who can now accurately designate their Yalu forces down to battalion level.

References

U.S. Army FM 21-50, Ranger Training and Ranger Operations, Department of the Army, 1962.
John R. Galvin, Air Assault, Hawthorne Books, 1969.
John P. Davis, ed., The American Negro Reference Book
Richard M. Dalflume, Desegration of the U.S. Armed Forces, University of Missouri Press, 1969.
John K. Mahon and Romana Danysh, Infantry Part I: The Regular Army, Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1972.
Roy E. Appleman, The U.S. Army in the Korean War: South to the Naktong - North to the Yalu, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1961.
Matthew B. Ridgeway, The Korean War, Doubleday and Co., Inc.,
Mary Lee Stubbs and Stanley Russell Conner, Armor-Cavalry: Part I, Office of the Chief of Military History, U.S. Army, 1969.
Herbert F. Wood, Strange Battleground: Official History of the Canadian Army in Korea.
T.R. Fehrenbach, This Kind of War, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1963.
Lynn Montros and Canzona, U.S. Marine Operations in Korea 1950- 1953, Volume III, Historical Branch, U.S. Marine Corps, 1957, Appendix G.
Walter G. Hermes, The U.S. Army in the Korean War: Truce Tent and Fighting Front, 1966.